500 Prayers for Young People

This is a prayer book for teenagers, containing prayers in a range of styles, arranged thematically. Here are prayers about exams, bullying, relationships, the environment, sex, bereavement, and much, much more.

The prayers themselves are numbered for ease of reference and feature a mix of ancient and modern styles, encouraging young people of many different temperaments to develop their own prayer life, as the prayers of others open spiritual doors forthem.

"When sudden, unexpected circumstances hit," explains Martin Saunders, "even the most hardened atheist can be known to turn to prayer. The desire and need to pray is created inside each one of us at the same time we get spleens, eyeballs and collarbones. Like a computer program which is created to contact its manufacturers regularly and 'request latest updates,' so we are born with an innate desire to talk to our maker.

"That's why, in those desperate moments when we do turn to prayer, we instantly feel some level of comfort. That's why, tostretch the software analogy a little further, we often walk away from prayer feeling refreshed, updated and upgraded."

Martin Saunders is the Director of Creative Development for Christian charity, Youthscape. Prior to that he was the editor of Youthwork magazine and Childrenswork magazine, and founder of the Youthwork Summit--the largest youthwork conference in the UK. He is the author of a number of books including The Ideas Factory, The Think Tank and 500 Prayers for Young People.